This invention relates to computer-controlled networks. In particular, this invention relates to computer-controlled telephone switching networks.
The telephone switching system of the United States is a complex, interconnected network of computer-controlled switching systems that route telephone calls under stored program control. The computer programs controlling these switching systems are immense and require extremely complex databases to make the machines operational.
The failure of one of these switching systems could cause the loss of thousands, if not millions, of calls adversely effecting commerce and emergency services for thousands and perhaps millions of users of telephone services. Bringing a telephone switching system that has been destroyed or disabled back into service might require the complete replacement of the switching equipment itself, including the computer or computers that control it and could take weeks and even months to accomplish.
Disaster recovery plans of many telephone service providers now include the capability of re-routing telephone message traffic to a backup switching system, typically at another location. While a redundant or backup switching system might be theoretically capable of routing calls, such a system would need to be completely programmed to handle calls of a failed system. Such reprogramming would be a time-consuming task that might take weeks or even months to accomplish.
Since much of the time associated with switching system disaster recovery is associated with reprogramming a lost switching system, a method or apparatus that could shorten the time necessary to reconfigure a lost or otherwise failed switching system would be an improvement over the prior art. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus to automatically collect data necessary for system recovery or administrative purposes.
There is provided herein a method and an apparatus for automatically collecting files from telephone switching offices and backing up these files at a remote location. A maintenance or administrative computer is equipped with communication links to a telephone switching system computer over which commands can be sent to the telephone switching computer from the administrative computer. A program running on the administrative computer remotely executes commands on the telephone switching system computer via the communication link.
The telephone switching system computer is equipped with computer programs that are resident on the switching system computers and written to perform the task of sending and receiving data files from the telephone switching system computer to another switching system.
At predetermined times, and under program control, an administrative computer invokes the execution of these backup and maintenance programs on the Lucent Technologies, Inc. No. 4ESS(trademark) switching systems from a remote location. When these programs are invoked, the No. 4ESS computer is instructed to copy key data and program files from computer memory devices of the No. 4ESS to the administrative computer where the files are stored on media from which they can be retrieved.
In the event the No. 4ESS from which the files were copied is lost to service or destroyed, the data files that were retrieved under the program control of the administrative computer, can be used to reconfigure a replacement No. 4ESS or configure a backup switching system located in a remote location.